Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

I'd like to thank Lakesie for selling the club.

[Benny The Noon]

I'd like to thank Lakesie for selling the club.

Hear hear 

[Reg]

^ yes I know Broughton says H & G cant do this - but at this moment in time - they have.

Hicks thinks he has but legally he hasnt

OF COURSE Hicks isnt going to let this slip out of control.

He's lost all credibility as an owner but still has title to sell, now Broughton has taken that away - game over.

Hicks is fighting for his life.

Time to die you bastárd.

[Redman in wales]

Great news all round today...lets hope it keeps getting better

its getting worse...



Tomkins on twitter in the last 10 minutes:

Radio 5live - "we've removed Purslow and Ayres"

Radio 5live - had correspondence with Tom Hicks "We've legally reconstituted the board and the board is not in favour"

He cant sack the board - only broughton can change members of the board .

well - thats what broughton tells us - maybe they've found someway to do it. who knows.

they're obviously desperate, and I dont believe it, BUT I wont believe we've been taken over  until the contracts have been signed

[Benny The Noon]

Great news all round today...lets hope it keeps getting better

its getting worse...



Tomkins on twitter in the last 10 minutes:

Radio 5live - "we've removed Purslow and Ayres"

Radio 5live - had correspondence with Tom Hicks "We've legally reconstituted the board and the board is not in favour"

He cant sack the board - only broughton can change members of the board .

well - thats what broughton tells us - maybe they've found someway to do it. who knows.

they're obviously desperate, and I dont believe it, BUT I wont believe we've been taken over  until the contracts have been signed

Hicks has been done by his own work - he signed control to Broughton and gave him the power . That has come back to hit in the

[maypaxvobiscum]

No way i havent sent anything from tompkins about this?

what were you planning to sent him DD?

[Dundalk]

No way i havent sent anything from tompkins about this?

what were you planning to sent him DD?

Meant to say heard!!   

[Simari]

Just who the was that on SSN?

Repeats all news we already know off and then ' I think they will go for groundshare'.

Ah friggin hell, some of these numpties posing as people who have any sort of reasonable opinion.

But it's all my fault for watching SSN

[maypaxvobiscum]

the effects of alcohol

[redsoxfan]

I thought you'd enjoy seeing how similar Liverpool's team history is with the Red Sox. This excellent video show the team throughout its 110+ year history. Boston was excellent early on, winning 5 World Series from 1903-1918, more than any other club. The fights are with the New York Yankees (basically our Man U). At 1:20 you see the Red Sox losing the first 3 games of a seven game American League championship against the hated Yankees in 2004. Realize that the Yankees had won 26 World Series since 1918, the Red Sox (though often very good) had won zero. But the miracle happened...Boston won the next four games to kill New York and end the curse. No one had ever done such a thing before. The parade you see is after the Red Sox then beat St. Louis in the World Series. Over 1,000,000 fans lined the streets.   And then we won again in 2007!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nuUGUft3hM&feature=related

We share your devout passion in a team, and the Henry group has served us well. Good luck.

[Dundalk]

RushianLFC 

Tom Hicks latest text to 5live: "that's why there are laws and courts" with reference to his contested "removal" of Ayre and Purslow

[Benny The Noon]

Tom Hicks and George Gillett's legal bid to thwart the takeover of Liverpool is likely to end in failure according to an insolvency expert.

Hicks and Gillett argue Liverpool's directors have dramatically undervalued the club by agreeing a £300m sale to New England Sports Ventures.

But Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton says that he has the final say when it comes to the sale of the club.

"The directors have the momentum," Guy Thomas of SA Law told BBC Sport.

Hicks and Gillett tried to sack managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre in a last-ditch bid to keep control of the club on Tuesday night, looking to replace them with with Hicks's son, Mack Hicks, and Lori Kay McCutcheon, a vice president at Hicks Holdings.

And Purslow, Ayre and Broughton are now consulting lawyers over whether they can resist Hicks and Gillett's attempts to replace them and force through a sale to the owners of the Boston Red Sox.

Broughton claimed the American owners were going back on pledges made when major creditor Royal Bank of Scotland extended their finance arrangement until next week, with changes implemented to remove Hicks and Gillett's power to veto a sale.

"When I took the role they gave a couple of written undertakings to Royal Bank of Scotland - that I was the only person entitled to change the board and that they would take no action to frustrate any reasonable sale," Broughton said.

"I think they flagrantly abused both of those written undertakings. I have the casting vote."

It is because of this that Thomas, Head of Insolvency at SA Law LLP, believes that the power is resting with Liverpool's directors.

"It depends on the strength of that drafting but I'm imagining it was very, very carefully worded," stated Thomas.

"If the wording isn't strong enough then the default position is that you've got to go and get permission from the shareholders that says, yes you can sell this business.

"Now if Broughton found a way when he was appointed to overcome that and the drafting of his agreement with them gives them that power then the owners have a real problem in being able to block the sale because they have already in effect, if the chairman has things lined up properly, given him permission in place before he was appointed."

Thomas added: "Broughton says he had got Hicks and Gillett to agree to changes in the Kop's constitution before he took the role.

"Broughton wanted [and says he got] the ability to deliver a sale if it was a reasonable deal.

"The first part of this was the ability of the board to sell the club and the second was his ability as chairman of the board to control the board's membership. Broughton says this was backed up with the owners' undertakings not to frustrate a reasonable transaction."

Liverpool's three directors could though be forced to take Hicks and Gillett to court to force the sale through, something Broughton is confident will result in victory.

It [the sale] has got to go ahead because the consequence of it not happening is administration

Guy Thomas - SA Law LLP

Thomas explains: "In essence, any application to the Court would be to authorise the sale of the club.

"Put another way the board is saying that not only did they try to authorise a "reasonable deal" - i.e. what they were authorised by the owners to do, but that now, those same owners are now trying to kill it."

The looming threat of administration, however unpalatable for most fans, also strengthens the directors' hand in Thomas' opinion

It is likely that if Liverpool is not sold before the 15 October deadline that RBS has set to pay back the £240m of loans and £40m of fees owed to them, the Reds could be placed in administration and Hicks and Gillett would lose control of the club.

"In simple terms, unless the owners and the directors come to an agreement or it is resolved that quickly over the next few days then the bank will make the decision for them," added Thomas.

"The sale has got to go ahead because without more funding the consequence of it not happening is administration."

Ultimately, Thomas believes that time is running out for Liverpool's owners.

"The board had a number of bids in front of them, they appear to have considered them carefully and chosen a preferred bid," he said.

"Broughton says he effectively obtained "pre approval" of a "reasonable transaction" before he took the job. He also says he obtained the power to hire and fire the board.

"This is what appears to have saved him and the commercial director last night. These "undertakings" as Broughton refers to them are also the basis for any application to the Court to enforce if Hicks and Gillett don't back down.

"There is another option: before the 15th, citing the impasse with shareholders and the cost of such an application to the court, the board could also consider inviting RBS to appoint an administrator or seek to appoint one themselves."

[Number 9]

RushianLFC 

Tom Hicks latest text to 5live: "that's why there are laws and courts" with reference to his contested "removal" of Ayre and Purslow

Rotten bast@rd has no dignity!Everyone hates him,no one wants him...why can't he just accept it and go and die!


Seriously if they get to stay I reckon we should set up a paypal account have a newkit whip around and hire a hitman to shoot them both!  

[PabloAimar]

Just who the was that on SSN?

Repeats all news we already know off and then ' I think they will go for groundshare'.

Ah friggin hell, some of these numpties posing as people who have any sort of reasonable opinion.

But it's all my fault for watching SSN

hahahaha i just came here to ask that same question!! who the f'ck was that? looked like a mini kia joobrachinirerenansnan

[LFC2007]

Overall I'm reasonably optimistic the red sox people have what it takes. The debt T&T used to acquire the club will paid off and the lifting of that burden allows the club to proceed on a sustainable basis. The £40m we make in profit - rather than going almost exclusively toward the servicing of debt - can be ploughed straight back into the club. Some will say, well that isn't enough to fund the squad, but for all we know they may have plans to supplement that amount. The fact that they spent nearly $200m in one season on the red sox suggests that perhaps they have deeper pockets than we're led to believe by some of the figures that have bandied about. I think we need to see an initial injection to try and keep the core of the current squad together. It's what the likes of Reina, Torres and Gerrard have been asking for, and regardless of what anyone says about needing a complete clearout of the of the old, when you have world class players it is generally better to try and hold onto them - they are not easy to come by. The next question is whether they can fund the stadium (re-)development. Usually that kind of project would funded in phases, or against future earnings - a % of future gate receipts. Sure, you won't see the benefits of the extra revenue until it's paid off, but in the meantime you're increasing revenue in other areas. 

Unlike our current soon-to-be-ousted owners, this group has an admirable track record, a successful blueprint to follow. It's encouraging too that redsox fans and the wider baseball fraternity speak of them as sensible, clued up people - more Obama than Bush, more Bad Bob than Heimdall - aware of what's required to restore the club to its former glories. It remains to be seen whether they can actually deliver but on the face of it they look a capable bunch.